Fig. 1

Applied approaches to address the impact of the glycocalyx on force loading-dependent mechanotransductive topography sensing at the nanoscale. The figure visualises the different mechanotransductive parameters (e.g., force loading and retrograde actin flow) and events at the cell/microenvironment interface that were scrutinised by AFM- and optical imaging-based techniques (adhesion force spectroscopy, nanoindentation, particle velocimetry, 3D-Structural Illumination Microscopy (3D-SIM)). In particular, we studied the involvement of the glycocalyx in nanotopography-sensitive and molecular clutch force loading-dependent mechanotransductive processes (by enzymatic digestion of the glycocalyx). The nanotopographical surfaces (on colloidal probes suitable for adhesion force spectroscopy, or as cell substrates as displayed here) were produced via zirconia cluster-assembling by means of supersonic cluster beam deposition (SCBD), to mimic nanostructural features cells can encounter in the ECM. This scheme was created with BioRender.com. For clarity, we simplified the glycocalyx here to its largest and bulkiest component, the hyaluronic acid. A more detailed visualisation of the glycocalyx can be found in Fig. 2H. Also the IAC are highly simplified, showing only principal components, such as integrin, talin, vinculin, paxillin, and focal adhesion kinase (FAK). A The AFM image displays a typical cluster-assembled morphology of our cluster-assembled thin films, highlighting details of mechanotransduction-relevant topographical dimensionalities at the nanoscale